And I mean "entry" level; not "entrée" level...

I mostly eat from cans. I want to get more fresh food in me. I cook broccoli, and I can slice and boil potatoes.

I want to try squash. Specifically, I bought several zucchini squash. Can I just wash them off, slice them into circular pieces, and then boil them? Pour off the water when they're about done and add a can of tomato sauce? Heat, stir, and serve?

I know we have many fine cooks here. Please don't laugh or sneer. I'm trying to enhance my diet without a lot of work. And I don't have time for a lot of cooking. But I think this plan might work okay?

Can the squash slices be served raw in a salad? I think I've had that in restaurants. Could I just slice the raw squash and pour Italian dressing on it and eat? Do I need to wash off the squash with anything but water, to get rid of germs, pesticides, etc.? It is okay to eat the raw rind?

Thanks. This is probably the idiot question of the day, but I need to be sure.

We never peel squash. Wash with water and cut up. Raw squash, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots are good with salad dressing. We stew squash, corn and onions together. Instead of a stew they are also good fried with grease but probably not healthy but at my age I don't worry about healthy. Larry

I cannot imagine there is anyone here on this forum that would laugh or sneer when you ask a legitimate question.

terry

The best way to cook squash, pumpkin, carrots and other "hard vegetables" is to oven roast them with just some salt and butter. Boiling destroys the flavor, roasting unleashes their sugars.

Bread it with cornmeal and fry it. You can also dip it in olive oil and roast it on the grill. Zucchini bread is good.

oven roasting is great i add alittle olive oil to it and keeping skin on is good for you they say it has alot more vitamins in it that way and instead of boiling try steaming

Another way is pan fried with bacon and a little onion. No breading.
It's actually more sautéed than fried. Do the bacon first, drain most of the grease, then crumble the bacon and throw everything together back in the pan and cover on low for about 30-45min.
Oh yeah, salt, pepper and some nutmeg goes in too.

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“Look life in its iron face”

Slice the squash 1/4" thick, brush on some canola oil, a little salt but never pepper because it will burn on a grill & cook on grill. When there is a slight char flip & cook the other side until there is a slight char. They will look a little burnt but they taste great!!! This will work with yellow summer squash also. You can grill onions, green peppers the same way.

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I'm 67. I don't do timeouts.

I like to pan fry mine with olive oil.

Boiling squash will just give you a mushy, unappetizing mess. First, a couple of general definitions.

Sauteing: in a pan on top of the stove.
Roasting: in a pan or sheet in the oven.

Oven roasting summer squash is easy.

Pre heat oven to 450°
Slice into rounds or cut into chunks, put in large bowl, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic salt.
Drizzle a little olive or vegetable oil over all and stir up.
Spread out on baking sheet in a single layer.

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, stirring once (flipping, if sliced) about halfway through.

The squash should be tender, but not mushy.

This is about as basic and easy as you can get.
You can cook most vegetables and potatoes like this varying the spices to what you like.

When oven roasting, you can add black pepper before cooking because it is cooking slower and the juices don't evaporate as quickly as they do when grilling. Although, I tend to use white pepper powder for most cooking. It won't burn and has a spicier flavor.

Bon appetite.

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Diddums

If you think you want to do more cooking for yourself, I would suggest getting "The Joy of Cooking" by Irma Rombauer.

It's a good, basic cookbook that teaches everything you'll need to cook about anything.

It comes in 2 volumes. Vol. 1 is cooking, Vol.2 is baking.

You can get it in paperback at any book store or used bookstore.

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Diddums

We steam most of our veggies. Quick and easy to do without breaking them down into a mushy mess. Get a good basic cookbook as boatme suggested. Eating out of a can will keep you alive but if you learn to cook a few basic things, the food will taste a lot better and be more nutritious.

You got lots of good advice on a good question. Zucchini is great but as stated above you can turn it to much quite quickly. I love fresh sliced zucchini in salads. I also like it sliced into sticks with a little salt for snacks. I used to make a dish called "Joe Goodman's Squash" which used sour cream. It was great! I'll have to resurrect that recipe.

Slice it thin and then smother it on the stove with onion. Simple and slap yo mama good!

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Forum consigliere

Slice it 1/4" thick, then saute with thin strips (julienned) red bell pepper and white onion in olive oil, a sweet white wine (such as chardonnay), and a little chopped garlic. Cook it most of the way done in the olive oil, then add the wine and garlic at the very end.

I'm not a big veggie fan, but I'll eat this!

This is perfect. It is easy and also preserves the nutrients, vitamins etc. that you'd end up pouring out with the water if you boil them. Get whatever looks good at the store and cut into 1-2" cubes, 450 degree oven for 30 minutes. Pumpkin, squash, radishes, carrots, potatoes, most anything like that. I usually use olive oil and salt.

Get regular olive oil for this--save the more expensive extra virgin stuff for the simple salad you'll eat with the veggies.

As far as a meat, get something on sale--either braise, roast or cook it on the stovetop depending on the cut. I get lambchops on sale for a lot less than you can buy beef and saute them in a pan, or cut up cheaper cuts of beef and braise with vegetables, onions etc. Chicken, fish, whatever is on sale.

Once you've done this a couple of times you'll find you can get all this done in not much more time than it takes to open a few cans.

A simple quick meal--get some frozen chopped broccoli. Put some pasta (spagetti or fettuccinni) on to boil. Put broc on a plate and microwave for a couple of minutes. If you use fresh broc parboil it. At the same time put a pan on the stove and preheat--get it really hot. I turn my gas stove all the way up. While the broc is in the MW and the pan is heating up crush and mince three cloves of garlic. When the pan is smoking hot put some oil in it (I use canola oil--olive oil is not good for high temp cooking) and then the broc. BROWN the broccoli. I mean really brown it. When you smell it as it browns you'll know why. It gets a nutty flavor. Toss as it cooks.

When the broc is well browned, add the garlic and turn the heat down. Keep tossing. After about 30-60 seconds, add a couple or more tablespoons of red vinegar or better yet lemon juice. Don't measure, just put it in. Then add the cooked pasta to the pan and toss.

Plate it up, drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil on it and put some grated parm on it. This is something they eat in Italy a lot, particularly on Fridays. It's also a very cheap meal.

The whole process shouldn't take longer than it takes to boil the pasta.

You can use the broc base and add almost anything to it--leftover steak, chicken, bacon, sausage, peppers, carrots, most any vegetable diced up--even tomatoes (!). I made some this week with leftover barbeque thrown in. Just add anything extra after the broc is browned and before you add the pasta. But it's terrific with just the broc, garlic and vinegar/lemon.

Great scot, man, life is too short to eat out of cans.

What I do is jump on the net and type in whatever I want to cook and there will be at least a couple of dozen recipes pop up.
It's the easiest way to find either a new way to cook something or the easiest and quickest way, whatever you're looking to do.

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“Look life in its iron face”

Tex,

You can do squash and most any veggie a millions ways. Raw is good too for most veggies and I eat lots of it. I should really buy Ranch Style dressing by the 5 gallon bucket the way we go through it .

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I'm Proud To Be An American!

I have found that a good herbs to add are Mexican oregano (different taste from Italian oregano) and Rosemary. I have both in my garden and use them fresh (also fresh basil).

Coarse ground black pepper and sea salt. (You can get grinders for both at Walmart, Costco, etc.)

Using fresh spices in your cooking will completely change your outlook as well as the results.

Try it; you'll like it!

Boiling really kills the flavor of most veggies,raw is good.Zucchini sliced thin,breaded and pan fried with mushrooms and onions,add some Italian sausage and homemade tomato sauce-the bomb.

This would go good with a pasta if you were to make it a sauce. I've done something similar with diced clams. I think grilling/ pan frying is better than boiling

Slice your squash about 1/4 in toss it in olive oil and garlic and red pepper flakes,or Italian seasoning.Wrap in foil or just put on grill

If you like zucchini you might like yellow crookneck more.
I don't like zukes and tolerate yellow crookneck a lot better.

I've eaten tons of squash but never cooked it. My wife bought me a big ol butternut squash once. From the time I cut it up, I swear it smelled like turpentine. I tried stir-frying & the smell got worse, so I tossed it.

After a light coat of olive oil, Ruthie dusts the veggies with Asiago and Parmesan cheese. She roasts them until the cheese is slightly brown.

I could eat it until the cows come home.

Unfortunately for me, we have no cows.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

Zucchini is good raw or cooked. I prefer it to be a little crunchy rather than stewed up. Makes an excellent addition to spaghetti sauce. Slice and chop, add to the sauce and let it simmer for 20 minutes or so.

My personal favorite for zucchini is to cut into 3-4" spears, place on a piece of aluminum foil, drizzle or brush with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic salt and parmesan cheese. Wrap up the foil packages tightly, then put them on the top rack of the grill while the meat is cooking (same thing could be done in the oven, about 20 minutes at 350F). Unwrap and serve.

I also like to fry potatoes with onions and garlic, then add sliced zucchini after the potatoes have crisped up, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, then serve. For a little change you can add a sprinkling of oregano.

My wife shreds zucchinis for use in bread, very similar to banana bread. Makes a nice breakfast. The shredded squash can be kept in a freezer bag for months, used whenever you feel the urge. A google search should turn up 100 recipes in a couple of minutes.

Shred a couple of handfuls and throw them into a boxed chocolate cake mix. You won't taste or see them, but everyone will want to know how you got the cake so moist and fresh.

I would suggest switching from canned meals to frozen ones. Most include a token vegetable. Drink Tang with them to avoid scurvy.

Aloha,

When frying, I like to add a Dash of Garlic Salt.

Or Garlic Pepper, you decide which you like best/\.

If you don't like a vegetable, try sauteing it with onion, garlic, chiles, or bacon fat. Or all of it.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

Zucchini in my humble opinion is best steamed vs. boiled. Toss it with olive oil, or butter, finish with salt and pepper, and/or the herb of your choice. I am also a fan of butter and a little lemon.

You can eat it raw, but I do not find it very tasty uncooked.

If not steamed I tend to saute it with olive oil, onion, and a touch of tomato (fresh canned or paste), again finish with salt pepper and the seasoning of your choice.

Do not ignore larger types of squash. Acorn, Summer and Butternut (just to name a few) bake up very well in the oven, and can be darn good with very simple toppings (think butter and brown sugar or butter salt and pepper).

Finally, as said above, go out and pick up a copy of "The Joy of Cooking" it covers just about anything you can think of ever cooking. I also need to plug Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything" as it too will address just about anything you might want to make.

Remember in the kitchen "you've got to have the courage of your convictions!" Julia Child

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always trust your cape...

Yes sauteing or roasting will turn horrible root vegetables like turnip, parsnip, swede and rutabaga into a gourmet feast.

I'm going to try roasting my veggies in the oven. Nuking/boiling gives bland lifeless results.

I would like to find some easy but satisfying/filling vegetarian dishes to try for a change. I'm not really interested in going no meat, but would like to change things up a bit.

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Common sense isn't so common.

Well, actually Rusty, you're very fortunate. If you have no cows, they're not comin home. Eat up!

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“Look life in its iron face”

I've never made it myself, but I've had some pretty good lasagna made with zucchini instead of noodles. They sliced it lengthwise and used them like you would the noodles.

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“Look life in its iron face”

You want easy veggies? Get a large Pyrex tray. Put a teaspoon of olive oil in it and spread it all over to get a thin coat so stuff don't stick. Choose your vegetables. I put a layer of kale on the bottom, cut up carrots or the "baby" kind next, fresh sliced mushrooms, some chopped onion, season and top with a layer of sliced red, gold or sweet potatoes. Season the top of the potatoes after a spray of Pam, butter or oil spray. Put it in the oven @300 around 1:30 pm and head for the couch for siesta until 5. Eat. no loss of nutrients because only water is lost. I make enough for the week on Sunday. Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

That's more like a Moussaka but Moussaka uses eggplant instead of Zucchini.

Dead easy summer squash: slice into sticks and dip in buttermilk ranch dressing with a goodly measure of coarse black pepper added.

Or slice a quarter-inch thick and sauté quickly with onion in real butter with salt and pepper until tender, drain off liquid and sprinkle generously with grated Parmesan and or romano cheese.

A simple vegetarian dish I like a lot is rice (I use long-grain white for this) and frozen or fresh leaf spinach, cooked with good sesame oil and butter. That can be a dinner for me.

I also like a cod or pollock filet baked over a bed of leaf spinach and onion, dotted with butter and covered with foil, until the onion is translucent and the fish is flaking. Coarse black pepper (or lemon pepper) and just a touch of garlic powder add to that one.

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Oh well, what the hell.

Many thanks to everyone. Looks like I'd better try sautéing or roasting.

Cut it about 1/4 inch thick or so and dip it in Ranch Dressing

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In dog years I'm dead.

Ranch Dressing=liquid bacon. Makes everything taste better.

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Forum consigliere

Only read the title of your post. The answer is BUTTER!


Went back and read the entire post answer Is still BUTTER!

vegetable steamer at Target

Please never boil vegetables, steam them lightly if you want them hot.

Or roast them in a bit of good virgin olive oil and spices to your taste.

Jim:

Broccoli: Parboil and serve with a dusting of parmesan cheese. Or parboil, with fresh lemon juice. Of course, a simple cheese sauce makes anything palatable. Try the parmesan or lemon on Brussels sprouts or asparagus, also.

Or balsamic on any of the above.

.
Try doing stir fry recipes. You don't even have to do them the same way. Get some Hoisin sauce. Cook your meat==I do it crisp. Add your veggies: carrots, celery, zucchini, cabbage, bean sprouts, Bok Choi==whatever you think of. I don't like cooked cabbage, so I undercook it. Keep it moving (you started with MAYBE a tablespoon of peanut oil). Add some cashews or peanuts, water chestnuts (canned) or bamboo shoots. Add a spoonful of sauce==I like Hoisin sauce but lobster sauce or fish sauce will work. the key is, keep it all (except the meat) undercooked. Vary things and you can do it all week and it'll never taste the same!

ANYTHING will taste better (well, almost==there are a few I don't talk about. Mostly on camping trips) if you make it yourself. Next thing you know, you'll be making your own salad dressings, sauces, etc.

good luck, greg

PS Shoot me your e-mail (I think I had it but lost it) and I can send you some recipes.

Bear ^^^^ good advice stir frying is another great method and as you say don't overcook the vegetables. Many people do. Also try oyster sauce instead of Hoisin sauce. Both are great

This and Betty Crocker and you just about have everything covered.

T-Star: I cook for myself too. And I'm not vey good at it nor very imaginative. I got a steamer once, and now do all my vegetables in it; much better than boiling. I'm on my second steamer; I turned on the burner under my first one by mistake; half an hour later it was red hot and the bottom was molten. What are those bottoms made of?

Genius! You inadvertently stumbled on the perfect product to make a fortune...actual liquid bacon. Could be used as a dressing or just drink it right from the carton/pouch/bottle....

I like to saute zucchini slices with a little garlic and then add stewed tomatoes and simmer until everything is hot. Sometimes adding mushrooms to the saute. If you like your veggies a little on the crunchy side then add the stewed tomatoes sooner. Can sprinkle parmesian on when serving if you like. Goes good with garlic bread too!

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L'LS